Statistics: To retake or not?

[BurritoConnoisseur]

Hi guys! So I too my statistics class at a community college and because I dislike math and did not care as much during my early years of college, I got a final grade of C on it. I was wondering if it's possible to retake it in my Cal State, do better this time around, and have grad schools look at the 2nd stats grade rather than the first one. If I do this, is it even worth it? Would they even look at my stats grade in the first place? I know it's an ASHA requirement, which is why it's worrying me. I have straight A's in my COMD classes and I would hate for this to be the determining factor of me getting into grad school or not. Any help would be really, really appreciated! Thanks! 

[_courtney]

Hey there! I am an out of field applicant so I don't know how much it will differ from my experience to yours. I also had a C in stats and I never retook it and my CSD classes range anywhere from an A to a C+ and I got into two schools. As long as your GPA stays a good number and you get good GRE scores, along with all the other things that complete the applications (letters of rec, statement of purpose, etc.) I wouldn't recommend you retake the class. If you get mixed replies or continue to have mixed feelings, I would suggest you ask a professor or advisor that knows the process of applying to grad schools. When I went to talk to my advisor/professor about wanting to retake the class I got a C+ in, she actually told me not to retake it because it would only raise my GPA a little bit. I think it just boils down to personal preference. I'm not an expert but I think you would be okay with a C in stats, but if you feel like you need to retake it; retake it! Good luck!

Edited April 20, 2018 by _courtney

[cclBo2020]

7 hours ago, BurritoConnoisseur said:

Hi guys! So I too my statistics class at a community college and because I dislike math and did not care as much during my early years of college, I got a final grade of C on it. I was wondering if it's possible to retake it in my Cal State, do better this time around, and have grad schools look at the 2nd stats grade rather than the first one. If I do this, is it even worth it? Would they even look at my stats grade in the first place? I know it's an ASHA requirement, which is why it's worrying me. I have straight A's in my COMD classes and I would hate for this to be the determining factor of me getting into grad school or not. Any help would be really, really appreciated! Thanks! 

When did you take the stats course originally? Part of the requirement for ASHA is that it has been taken within the past 5 years. I had an A- in my undergrad stats (psychological statistics specifically), but had to retake it this past year because it 'expired'.

Also, make sure it is the correct level. I believe it has to be higher than introductory; for example, my undergrad campus (a UC) had a GE Stats 10 course, but to qualify for ASHA and my major I needed a 100 level.

If math isn't your thing, I recommend looking into a psychology or sociology focused stats course; they are generally offered directly from those departments and will be applicable to our potential uses for Stats.

Edited April 20, 2018 by mirrorcat43
Edited for clarity

[SeaCai]

2 hours ago, mirrorcat43 said:

When did you take the stats course originally? Part of the requirement for ASHA is that it has been taken within the past 5 years. I had an A- in my undergrad stats (psychological statistics specifically), but had to retake it this past year because it 'expired'.

Also, make sure it is the correct level. I believe it has to be higher than introductory; for example, my undergrad campus (a UC) had a GE Stats 10 course, but to qualify for ASHA and my major I needed a 100 level.

If math isn't your thing, I recommend looking into a psychology or sociology focused stats course; they are generally offered directly from those departments and will be applicable to our potential uses for Stats.

Five years prior to certification?! That timeline seems unreasonably short. Where is this information published? 

[Southwestspeechie]

11 hours ago, mirrorcat43 said:

When did you take the stats course originally? Part of the requirement for ASHA is that it has been taken within the past 5 years. I had an A- in my undergrad stats (psychological statistics specifically), but had to retake it this past year because it 'expired'.

Also, make sure it is the correct level. I believe it has to be higher than introductory; for example, my undergrad campus (a UC) had a GE Stats 10 course, but to qualify for ASHA and my major I needed a 100 level.

If math isn't your thing, I recommend looking into a psychology or sociology focused stats course; they are generally offered directly from those departments and will be applicable to our potential uses for Stats.

I would be careful before jumping into a psychology or sociology focused stats course, most schools only accept these requirements if they have the subject in the course name, for example STATS101 being accepted, but PSYC121 not being accepted. I could have misinterpreted your point though! 

[cclBo2020]

6 hours ago, Felice said:

I would be careful before jumping into a psychology or sociology focused stats course, most schools only accept these requirements if they have the subject in the course name, for example STATS101 being accepted, but PSYC121 not being accepted. I could have misinterpreted your point though! 

Really? I didn't have an issue with any school accepting my stats course, which was Sociology 399. That is good to be aware of though. I know they emphasized that we make sure they're considered equivalent to a higher Stats course; that course covered the same material as the 2pt Stats sequence the campus offered.

[Southwestspeechie]

12 hours ago, mirrorcat43 said:

Really? I didn't have an issue with any school accepting my stats course, which was Sociology 399. That is good to be aware of though. I know they emphasized that we make sure they're considered equivalent to a higher Stats course; that course covered the same material as the 2pt Stats sequence the campus offered.

Many of the schools I applied to mentioned that the ASHA requirements needed to be standalone subject courses (not stats as a part of research methods for example), so I guess if your Stats course was all stats and no sociology then it works. I guess schools will look at the syllabus to determine if they can accepted it too! I was just worried to take any risk. 

[Thetis94]

If you feel that you should really retake it, I'd look into taking a stats course that isn't for math majors. So like a bio statistics or something for other non-math majors. I got a C in my stats class and was accepted into schools. As long as your gpa and gre scores are good, you should be fine. 

 

Also, from experience, community college courses are a lot easier than university courses. I don't know how Cali is, but I'd personally try a CC first. 

[SoCali]

On 4/19/2018 at 8:22 PM, BurritoConnoisseur said:

Hi guys! So I too my statistics class at a community college and because I dislike math and did not care as much during my early years of college, I got a final grade of C on it. I was wondering if it's possible to retake it in my Cal State, do better this time around, and have grad schools look at the 2nd stats grade rather than the first one. If I do this, is it even worth it? Would they even look at my stats grade in the first place? I know it's an ASHA requirement, which is why it's worrying me. I have straight A's in my COMD classes and I would hate for this to be the determining factor of me getting into grad school or not. Any help would be really, really appreciated! Thanks! 

I could have sworn I read the ASHA required classes-statistics, physics/chemistry, and social science can be taking for credit only P/F OR a letter grade. So I don’t think it will be a deal breaker.